India-UN Current Affairs - 2019

The United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) passed a non-binding resolution asking United Kingdom (UK) to return Chagos Archipelago in Indian Ocean to Mauritius.

Key Highlights

Background: On February 2019 International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of separation of Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 when latter was a British colony. It also ruled the UK’s decolonisation of the Indian Ocean islands was unlawful. This advisory opinion was endorsed by UNGA.

About: The UNGA condemned the Britain’s occupation of Mauritius’s remote Chagos Islands in Indian Ocean and passed a resolution demanding Britain to withdraw its administration of the Chagos Islands. The 193-member world body passed resolution with 116-6 in favour (with 56 abstentions). The vote supported a motion which set a six-month deadline for Britain to withdraw from Chagos island chain and for islands to be reunified with neighbouring Mauritius.

Issue:

Chagos Archipelago, a group of seven atolls comprises of more than 60 islands in Indian Ocean. It is located about 500 km south of Maldives. Since 18th century when the French first settled in islands, it had been part of Mauritius only. In 1801, all of the islands of French colonial territory in region were ceded to British.

As per ICJ, in 1965 Britain unlawfully carved up Mauritius (when it was a British colony) which Chagos Archipelago was a part of. Thus even after Mauritius gained its independence from Britain in 1968 UK retained its sovereignty over islands to form British Indian Ocean Territory. UK then forcibly removed entire population of Chagos islands from territory between 1967 and 1973, and also prevented them from returning.

Since then islands have been known by Foreign Office as British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), and being used for defence purposes by UK and United States. The US also established a military base on island of Diego Garciawhich is largest of all islands.

Thus, Mauritius claims its sovereignty over islands and argues that British claim is in violation of law and of UN resolutions that bans dismemberment of colonial territories before independence.

ICJ verdict: In February 2019 International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is the principal judicial body of UN and highest international legal authority, upheld that UK Government is under an obligation to end its administration over Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible. ICJ also advised that all its member states are under an obligation to cooperate with UN in order to complete decolonisation of Mauritius.

UNGA Resolution: It reaffirmed advisory opinion of ICJ and held that Chagos Archipelago forms an integral part of territory of Mauritius. It demanded UK to withdraw its colonial administration from Chagos Archipelago unconditionally within a period of six months and to also support Mauritius in its quest for restoration of sovereignty over island chain.

Significance: Although the resolution is not legally-binding, but it still carries significant political weight as the ruling came from UN’s highest court and assembly votes also reflected world opinion.

India’s Stand

India was among 116 nations who voted in favour of resolution.

India supported draft resolution, submitted by Senegal on behalf of members of Group of African States and voted in favour of it, as Mauritius is a fellow developing nation from Africa, with which India shares age-old people-to-people bonds.

India for long has been supporter of all peoples striving for decolonization and has consistently supported Mauritius since beginning its quest for restoration of its sovereignty over Chagos Archipelago.

India urged all concerned nations to reach a mutually agreeable understanding as soon as possible.

NITI Aayog and United Nations in India signed Sustainable Development Framework for 2018-2022. The agreement is reflection of commitment and efforts made by India towards attaining Sustainable Development Goals.

India-UN Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF)

UNSDF 2018-2022 outlines development cooperation strategy between Union Government and United Nations Country Team in India in support of achievement of India’s key national development priorities and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Across these outcome areas, UN will support Union Government in south-south cooperation in partnership with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The total planned budget outlay for implementation of UNSDF is approximately Rs. 11000 crore, of which 47% is planned to be mobilized through course of implementation from multiple sources, including private sector and government.

The programmatic work outlined in UNSDF targets seven low-income states viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and UP along with North-East region and aspirational districts identified by the NITI Aayog. It will work on improving lives of most marginalized, poor, and vulnerable communities and people in the country, especially women and girls.

UNSDF also includes set of UN flagship programs that are aligned with major government schemes. These flagship programs will be scalable innovative, multi-sectoral solutions to some of most pressing development challenges that India faces and also serve as catalysts for increased investment of development finance.

UNSDF programmes range from affordable housing for poor to increasing access to clean energy in rural off-grid areas, protecting all children from vaccine-preventable diseases, providing quality education for all children and skilling for young people, especially young girls and ending stunting to improving child sex ratio.